The PWS-19 was a Polish

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

and

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strateg ...

plane prototype of the 1930s, constructed in the PWS (''Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów'' -

Podlasie Podlachia, also known by its Polish name Podlasie (; ; ), is a historical region in north-eastern Poland. Its largest city is Białystok, whereas the historical capital is Drohiczyn. Similarly to several other historical regions of Poland, e.g ...

Aircraft Factory).

Development

The PWS-19 was constructed in 1930 in order to replace the French-designed bombers

Potez 25 Potez 25 (also written as Potez XXV) was a French twin-seat, single-engine sesquiplane designed during the 1920s. A light multi-purpose Strike fighter, fighter-bomber, it was designed as a line aircraft and used in a variety of roles, including F ...

and

Breguet 19 Breguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker ** Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Breguet Aviation, ...

in the

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force () is the aerial warfare Military branch, branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 26,000 military personnel an ...

. It was a development of the PWS-17, which remained unbuilt. Main designers were

Zbysław Ciołkosz Zbysław Ciołkosz (23 March 1902 – 25 June 1960) was a Polish American aircraft designer, whose work includes the P.Z.L. 27, PWS-20, LWS-3 Mewa, RWD-11, LWS-6 Żubr, PWS-1, PWS-54, PWS-19, LWS-2, and PWS-52.''Obituary'' (1960) Flight 78( ...

and Antoni Uszacki. It was planned to be produced in two variants: reconnaissance PWS-19A2 and bomber PWS-19B2. It was a conventional design, a strutted high-wing

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

with quite elegant silhouette, open cockpits and fixed landing gear. It was fitted with double tailfins to obtain a good field of defense fire. In 1934 Antoni Uszacki designed a smaller plane basing on the PWS-19, designated PWS U-6, with G-1620 Mors 400 hp engine. It participated in a contest for an army cooperation plane, but lost against

RWD-14 Czapla The RWD-14 Czapla (LWS Czapla) was a Polish army cooperation aircraft (observation, close reconnaissance and liaison aircraft), designed in the mid-1930s by the RWD team, and produced in the LWS factory from 1938. A series of 65 aircraft were ...

and was not built.

Operational history

The only prototype first flew in

Biała Podlaska Biała Podlaska (; ) is a city in the Lublin Voivodeship in eastern Poland with 56,498 inhabitants It is the capital of Biała Podlaska County, although the city is not part of the county (it constitutes a separate city county). The city lies on ...

in September 1931. During tests it showed quite good flight characteristics, although the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

s had to be enlarged to improve manoeuvrability and stability. However, on March 17, in 1933, the wings distorted in a dive and the prototype crashed (killing an observer). The Air Force considered ordering the PWS-19A2 powered by a

Bristol Pegasus The Bristol Pegasus is a British nine-cylinder, single-row, air-cooled radial engine, radial aircraft engine, aero engine. Designed by Roy Fedden of the Bristol Aeroplane Company, it was used to power both civil and military aircraft of the 1 ...

engine, but at the same time, a more modern aircraft the PZL.23 Karaś had been developed by

PZL PZL, may refer to: Places * PZL, an IATA airport code for Phinda Airfield in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa * PZL, a location code for the Złotów County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, Poland, in the system of the vehicle registration plates of Polan ...

- a low-wing monoplane of all-metal construction. As a result, works upon the PWS-19 stopped.

Description

Mixed construction high-wing (parasol)

. A fuselage of a steel frame, covered with

duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age hardening, age-hardenable aluminium–copper alloys. The term is a combination of ''Düren'' and ''aluminium'' ...

in front section and

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable Plain weave, plain-woven Cloth, fabric used for making sails, tents, Tent#Marquees and larger tents, marquees, backpacks, Shelter (building), shelters, as a Support (art), support for oil painting and for other ite ...

in mid and rear sections. Two-spar wings, of wooden construction, plywood covered. Stabilizers, rudder and elevator of metal construction, canvas covered. Twin vertical tailfins. Crew of two (pilot and observer/gunner) in open individual

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

s. Conventional fixed

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

, with a rear skid. The plane was fitted with RKL/D radio and camera. Engine: 9 cylinder air-cooled radial

Pratt & Whitney Hornet The Pratt & Whitney R-1690 Hornet was a widely used American aircraft engine. Developed by Pratt & Whitney, 2,944 were produced from 1926 through 1942. It first flew in 1927. It was a single-row, 9-cylinder air-cooled radial design. Displaceme ...

T2 in front, with a Townend ring (there were optional

Bristol Jupiter The Bristol Jupiter is a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine that was built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developme ...

VII or

). Two-blade metal propeller of a fixed pitch. Fuel tank 420 L in a fuselage, dropped in emergency. Armament: single fixed front-mounted 7.7 mm Vickers machinegun with an

interrupter gear A synchronization gear (also known as a gun synchronizer or interrupter gear) was a device enabling a single-engine tractor configuration aircraft to fire its forward-firing armament through the arc of its spinning propeller without bullets strik ...

, in the right fuselage side, single 7.7mm Vickers on a ring mounting of the observer. Up to 250 kg bombs (maximum bomb size - up to 50 kg).

Operators

; *

Specifications

References

External links

Photos and drawings at Ugolok Neba
{{PWS aircraft 1930s Polish bomber aircraft 1930s Polish military reconnaissance aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft PWS aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1931